Customs orders probe of chicken smuggling

BATANGAS CITY — Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo has ordered an investigation into the release of 19 refrigerated vans of dressed chicken from Taiwan from the port here last Friday despite a hold order from the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

"We will make sure that the people who are responsible for this will be held accountable," Bernardo said in a phone interview. He expects the results of the inquiry today or tomorrow.

But the Department of Health (DOH) denied yesterday rumors that poultry infected with bird flu had been brought into the country.

DOH spokeswoman Luningning Villa said rumor was being spread by mobile phone text messages that 19 containers of infected poultry had entered the country.

"It is still safe to eat chicken," she said, emphasizing the department has not issued any warning not to eat chicken, as stated in the text messages.

The dressed chickens were contained in 19 40-foot refrigerated vans from Kaoshiung, Taiwan, estimated to be worth P50 million, which the NMIC ordered held amid the scare on the bird flu virus in Asia. Five of the vans were later intercepted and impounded.

Taiwan is one of six Asian nations hit by the deadly outbreak. The others are Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

The government has banned chicken imports from these countries.

The DA’s Anti-Smuggling Intelligence and Investigation Center (ASIIC) tipped off the Customs office about the Taiwan chicken shipment last Friday and asked that it be held for inspection.

Despite the hold order, ASIIC head Benjie Angeles said he was surprised to learn Saturday morning that the
19 vans had been released without any quarantine clearance.

"After learning about the release, I ordered a Luzon-wide alert to recover the 14 vans," he said. "We don’t want our country to be a dumping ground of these infected goods. We will return them to Taiwan as soon as we get them."

Four of the 19 vans were intercepted earlier in Barangay Balagtas here, and a fifth one in Barangay Anastacia in Sto. Tomas town last Saturday.

NMIC director Efren Nuestro expressed fear that the missing shipment could have reached wet markets, thus exposing consumers to potential health risks.

"Technically, hindi pa dapat pinalabas ng Customs ang shipment dahil hindi pa nai-inspect ng Bureau of Animal Industry (Customs should not have released the shipment since the Bureau of Animal Industry had not inspected it)," he said.

Customs district collector Edward de la Cuesta said he was not in his office when the questionable shipment was released.

"Actually, hindi lahat ng papeles ay dumadaan sa akin (not all papers pass through me). We have our deputy collector for assessment (Raymond Ventura) and chief assessor (Aguinaldo Marquez) to clear the documents," he said.

De la Cuesta said he will conduct his own investigation.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr., in an interview with radio station dzRH the other day, said that Customs personnel responsible for the release will be held accountable.

He identified the shipment’s consignee as the Von Way Trading with postal address in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Authorities have earlier said they would also closely monitor any Thai poultry products entering the Philippines amid fears of an avian influenza epidemic in Thailand.

"Thai poultry have been placed on the watchlist, but there is no formal ban" an aide to Jose Molina, the head of the Bureau of Animal Industry, told AFP.

Authorities have banned since Friday poultry imports from all Asian countries to stop the spread of avian influenza from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Molina issued a memorandum banning imports of all "live poultry and any product of poultry origin" originating from Asia, Davinio Catbagan, veterinary quarantine chief at Manila airport, told AFP.

The bureau also said "travelers to any Asian country are discouraged from visiting any poultry or bird farm to avoid bringing the H5N1 virus to the Philippines."

Last week, the agriculture department imposed an immediate ban on imports of domestic and wild birds as well as poultry products from Japan and Vietnam due to confirmed outbreak of bird flu in those countries.

The Philippines does not import its poultry from any of these countries, but Lorenzo said there was a possibility "that some travelers may bring in pet birds from Vietnam and Japan."

Thai Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan confirmed Friday the country’s first human cases of bird flu in two boys from provinces west of the capital, Bangkok. He said three more people are being tested.

The virus has already killed at least five people in Vietnam, and the epidemic spread through South Korean farms late last year.

Japan also suffered its first bird flu outbreak in 79 years, resulting in the deaths or slaughter of tens of thousands of chickens.

Catbagan said the Philippines does not import poultry products from any Asian country.

It imports chicken meat from the United States and Canada, as well as day-old breeder chicks from France, Germany, and the Netherlands, he added. — With AFP